There is the expression: "shooting yourself in the foot". It is hard to believe that people might actually "shoot themselves in the face"!
Surveys of how people respect different occupations repeatedly show the four professions which are lowest in regard are: used car salesmen; advertisers; journalists and politicians. These are all seen as people who will say anything to get the result they want.
There are four levels of dishonesty in journalism.
Minor dishonesty: this means the means of tonal adjectives which cannot be verified in any way. This includes words like pompous, arrogant, self-regarding, patronising. They are purely subjective opinions which reflect as much on the person using them as on the subject.
Major dishonesty: This is selective perception and 'being economic with the truth'. This means you are supposed to be doing an objective interview (which is what the reader expects) but you put in all the bad things and leave out the good things.
Gross dishonesty: this is pure invention. This means inventing things which are simply not true in order to get the effect you want.
Serious dishonesty: here there is no intention whatever to be honest. The journalist is given instructions as to what to write before the interview.
In what are regarded as the 'Oscars' of journalism the person chosen as the young journalist of the year was Emma Brockes who wrote a very dishonest review of me in the Guardian. She was guilty of at least three levels of dishonesty (I have a tape recording of the interview) and possibly all four. This could mean a number of things:
- Dishonesty does not really matter.
- Dishonesty is esteemed and admired.
- Dishonesty is actually rewarded
It is to be noted that in the account of the award the interview with me is actually stated - so ignorance of the matter is not relevant. This is what I mean by "shooting yourself in the face".
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